For the northern half, wolves probably play a big factor in MN. More so than WI. Weather for MN was not all that bad - maybe could have been a little better, but it was not miserable like the WI opener.

Depends on what you consider miserable. Most people won't sit out in the rain either. Predators are probably more of a factor in the northern part of MN than in WI, I agree.

My point, however, is that there are gun hunters in the woods from the first weekend of November through the last weekend of November in MN and they aren't decimating the population. Seems again, that humans make themselves self important in the bigger picture of life.

Baiting in WI plays a role too - without it, I think the WI harvest would have been much lower. But on the other hand, there are very few deer left in the far north of WI to harvest, bait or no bait - and this is what we are starting to see in the far northern WI units. In MN, with no baiting, you must rely even more on decent weather for natural deer movement.

I don't think that's true at all. I think there is much more natural movement in MN due to the lack of baiting. Without piles of food all over the woods, the deer actually need to move around to eat naturally occurring food. I think the deer herd in MN is just smaller.

I don't think that the population densities are much better in the snow ranges of MN or MI compared with the same ranges in WI currently. Yes, there was a concerted effort to reduce herd size in WI in pretty much all areas, but it probably didn't hurt those areas as much as over population would have with the snows and late spring weather the last couple years would have.

The problem is we've been spoiled in WI. We have a DNR that has been top notch in managing the deer resource in the state. They made decisions that were based in science and research and didn't cow to popular knowledge or societal demands. It made them seem like they didn't care, but they cared more about the resource than the armchair biologists that are running the Dept. today. We used to have a DNR that other states came to and asked questions, wanted help with their programs and modeled their programs after.

Now we have Keystone Cops (at the very least in the leadership) run a muck, cowing to any special interest that waves a little cash in there faces. Throw in a couple Keystone Senators and you've got what we have today.

I think the least of WI's problems is the deer herd. It will continue to be the face of the issue in the press, but its a false veil of what the true problem is.

Dan Salmon wrote:The problem is we've been spoiled in WI. We have a DNR that has been top notch in managing the deer resource in the state. They made decisions that were based in science and research and didn't cow to popular knowledge or societal demands. It made them seem like they didn't care, but they cared more about the resource than the armchair biologists that are running the Dept. today. We used to have a DNR that other states came to and asked questions, wanted help with their programs and modeled their programs after.

How and when did this change? What is the WI DNR doing differently now? I am not criticizing, just want to know what you have to say.